41 + 4

My dad was a home designer/builder, and often, on Sundays after church and lunch, we would go visit his works-in-progress. I feel kinda bad about it now, but on more than one occasion I ended the tour with a comment along the lines of "It's great Dad, but I wouldn't want to live here. I'm going to redo a neat old house. Something with character and history!" I read waaaay too many historical romance novels as a kid.

That was the plan, anyway, until I went and fell in love with a mechanical engineer -- great with machines, not so great with things like carpentry, plumbing and repairs. Plus, we never stayed in one place long enough to complete a project of that magnitude. So, it just made more sense to buy new, then "Get outta Dodge" before anything had a chance to fall apart.

Still, just because I never actually lived in a neat old house, that doesn't mean I ever lost my love for them. In fact, I eat my meals in them every chance I get. No surprise then, that it was love at first sight when I saw the place Hubby had chosen to celebrate our forty-first anniversary (plus four years of dating) yesterday -- a very European place in the heart of Austin called Fabi + Rosi. 

I opted for pork schnitzel with spaetzle...

while John went for pepper steak with truffle fries.

I had to help him with those fries. (Moan!)

For dessert we started to share that item at the top of the list, just because we wanted to tell people we ate Krack Pie with Hooch Cream. But then the lady on the banquette next to us leaned over and said "Order the lemon chevre tart. Trust me."  I'm so glad we did.

Actually, the celebration started with us taking lunch over to Lex, Nate, his parents, sister and niece, only to discover that four of them had driven over to Wimberley to surprise us! They now have a refrigerator full of Mima's tacos. On the plus side, they were all soft tacos, which reheat pretty well. Plus, it's never a wasted trip if it means snuggle time with The Goob!

In between that and dinner, there was a trip to one of the best bookstores (with a great children's department) and THE best toy store. Turns out, I'm not the one they need to worry about, when it come to bringing Little Goober prezzies every time we see him!

Know what I love most? The amount of time and thought he puts into finding just the right thing. Or things.